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The outage is ongoing but the bastards moved me back to days so getting out to enjoy the weather has been nearly impossible. Trips this month: 5
4/14/05
I was just about ready to call April a wash after my planned after-work trip yesterday wound up with me stuck at the plant for 15 hours. I managed to slip away unnoticed this afternoon and was able to get off work at my usual 4:30 quitting time for the first time in almost 4 months. Today, the beautiful, warm weather that we have been enjoying was replaced by a grey, chilly, breezy day but that didn't deter me from hitting the water and setting out into the nor'easterly wind and heading toward the runoff pond back at the plant. I saw a few herons along the way but no real photo ops until I reached the pond. There, I saw a couple of Little Blues in their white phase and of course the Osprey pair who nest along the western bank. I headed back out and skirted the edge of the plant property to the north as I tried to shoot a feeding white heron. I heard some grunts and squeals coming from the grass indicating that at least some of the wild pigs that I saw last month were tromping around out there. I never did see them which probably means that it was the smaller hogs. From there I headed back east and circumnavigated the nearest island - chasing a few Great Blues but never getting close enough for a good shot. Once back out in the main channel I let the wind and outgoing tide carry me back to my truck after a brief but satisfying start to April paddling. See the pictures from this trip
4/19/05
After spending another long night at work when I really wanted to be on the water I managed to slip away today more or less on time and hit the water on a glorious afternoon - a little breeze out of the east but bright blue skies and an incoming tide. I did my usual northern route in the Mills - bypassing an empty Cedar tree and heading out to the ICW with little or no wildlife to photograph. Once out on the waterway, I headed south and made my way toward the Kingfish Park. As I approached the Manatee Zone Sign I didn't see or hear any activity until I was just a few yards away. Soon, I began to see some movement above the sign and I could also hear the chirping from the female on the nest. As I floated by, she rose from the nest and then flew off and circled me a couple of times before settling back down on the nest as I headed on day the waterway. The rest of the trip was an easy gentle float back with the wind and current in my favor. See the pictures from this trip
4/20/05 Another opportunity to paddle after work so I headed back to the Mills and headed out into a stiff easterly breeze and a light chop on the water. I headed to the northwest toward the Center Island and then attempted to find the cutback to the ICW but either I kept taking the wrong branch or else the tide was still too low to pass through. At one point, I was floating along a small stream being serenaded by the constant buzzing and chirping of the marsh wrens. I spotted one of their nests at the water's edge and stopped to admire the dwelling that is intricately woven into the tops of the marsh grass. I then began to notice that this entire passage was literally full of the nests - a veritable Marsh Wren Condo complex. I could hear the little guys singing non-stop but only occasionally could I see them poking their heads above the grass line or hovering above it before dropping into the grass and disappearing. After an hour or so of meandering around I headed back the way that I came and made my way home - taking the time to lay back in my boat and relax once I reached the main pool - letting the wind and current push me along. No pics today. I'm just not seeing much birdlife out there lately. Perhaps everyone is on the nests waiting for those chicks to be born.
4/25/05
I got an unexpected reprieve from 12 hour days and found myself in Browns Creek at dead low tide heading west into a fairly stiff breeze. I was going to head my usual direction of late but as I cleared the point I noticed a large mass of white to the north. I was pretty sure that it had to be a large group of White Pelicans gathered in a shallow cove. At this tide I was certain that I was about to see something that I have wanted to see since I first discovered these beautiful and now familiar giants - a group of them feeding. Sure enough, as I approached I could see the white shapes moving slowly back and forth across the pool with their massive heads disappearing under the water and then re-appearing - the occasional bright orange beak lifting vertically into the air to announce that the dip had yielded a catch. Upon entering the inlet I could see the murky water rippling beneath my boat with the small fish that the Pelicans were chasing. With the tide incoming I decided to position myself at the entrance to the stream and let nature take it's course and float in as close as possible without disturbing them. There was a group of four pelicans sitting on the mud at the entrance to the inlet who apparently were the sentinels and as I approached they calmly entered the water and swam toward their friends. I quietly found a spot about 20 yards from the group and sat and watched and shot away while the lookouts positioned themselves between me and the feeding group. I sat and watched the spectacle for a good 20 minutes - marveling at the methodical way that the birds would work together swimming and dipping as they moved back and forth across the stream. A large group of White Egrets and Snowy's had gathered on the bank waiting to take advantage of the Pelicans actions and ready to scoop up the fish that tried to escape those huge bills. The Pelicans didn't seem to mind their presence but occasionally a fight would break out amongst the Egrets as they tried to get the best spot on the bank. The water was deep enough for the Pelicans to dip their entire heads under the water but once they reached the edges of the pool I could see them stretching their long necks out and then sweeping their bills in a horizontal motion in order to scoop the fish. They would stay in this shallow, muddy water for long periods doing this as they tried to get every last fish. They would then turn and begin their trek back across the pool but their bills would be a muddy mess - kind of like me on Taco night! I also noticed that a few of them had large growths growing from the tops of their bills - which I later read indicated a breeding bird and that they would lose that growth after the eggs hatch. After watching me patiently for some time one of the sentinels suddenly took off - flapping his enormous wings slowly as he rose from the water. One by one at first and then en masse the rest of the group of about two dozen slowly joined him and the entire flock made a slow circle around where I was sitting before flying off to the west where I could see them drop below the grass about a mile away.
As left the inlet and headed back out into the main channel - intending to head back south and then west to see if I could find the flock again. As soon as I reached open water I saw off to the east another large mass of white gathered on one of the sandbars that lie in the middle of the channel. There was no mistaking what these were so I headed that way. Here was a second group at least as large as the first one but they were merely hanging out on the bar. As I approached a few flew off to the far end of the sand while the rest simply got up and began waddling away from me. It was quite a humorous sight since the White Pelican has such a long wingspan that they had to hold their wings up like and looked like a woman wearing a long dress attempting to walk across a puddle. I drifted by them as the tide carried me east and as I reached the end of the sandbar they entered the water and swam back to where they had started. While sitting there watching them, I spotted a couple of terns who were making an unusual call. These terns were unlike the Least or Commons that I usually see and I later identified them as the rare Roseate Terns who come ashore in late spring to nest but are rarely seen and are endangered.
I decided to call it an evening and headed back but as I was approaching the point I saw three Black Skimmers sitting on a sandbar squawking noisily. I snapped a few pictures of these clownish characters before completing my journey. It was a short trip but one of my most productive.
See the pictures from this trip
4/27/05
I was back in Browns Creek on a glorious afternoon - bright blue skies and not a cloud in the sky. It was dead low tide again and unlike a couple of days ago when I spent the afternoon in the presence of the gregarious giants of the marsh - today I spent a couple of hours in the company some of the marsh's more diminutive inhabitants. I headed into a stiff westerly breeze and soon rounded the point to head north. On the exposed sandbars that lie in the center of the channel at low tide there were several terns - including the pair of Roseates that I saw on Monday. I picked my way over the sandbars and mudflats around to the east and made my way toward my usual northern route - the low water forcing me to take a longer detour. I stopped to shoot a large group of Sandpipers who were hanging out on one of the exposed clay banks - looking like a group of visitors to a miniature Pacific Coast Highway overlook. I wound my way around to the location of the old dock that is out here but the low water prevented me from going much further so I headed back. I stopped along the way to shoot a Great Egret who was fishing and while I watched he snagged an enormous crayfish that he didn't seem to know what to do with. Normally, Egrets and Herons swallow their catch whole but clearly, this guy was not going to go down without a fight so the Egret stood there shaking it until it expired. Every time that I would drift in too close he would fly away - but only a few feet as he concentrated on shaking the crawdaddy. I'm not sure what he hoped to accomplish - perhaps he thought that if he shook it long enough the meat would just fall out. At any rate, he finally flew off back in the direction we had started from - his catch still dangling from his beak and I continued on. While I was trailing the Egret, I saw a large bird soaring above the island closest to me and a check with my binoculars showed that it was an immature Bald Eagle. I had seen one sitting in a tree on this same island a couple of months ago so it was nice to see that he was hanging around the area. He circled a few times and then caught a thermal and soared out of sight to the south. I headed back to my put-in with some difficulty. The wind had picked up and that combined with the shallow water made maneuvering a chore - especially with a bad shoulder. I also began to wish for my sunglasses which I had assumed I had left on my desk at home. The sun was intense as I headed directly into it. I paused to shoot some skimmers on the same sandbar where I saw them earlier this week - their group has now doubled in size and they were joined by a pair of Brown Pelicans. As I beached my boat and was walking up to my truck I looked down to see my sunglasses half buried in the sand - right where I had left them two days ago. What are the chances of that? See the pictures from this trip
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